George Shuba died at 89 this past Monday.  Back in the 1950’s he played in three world series for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  But today what Shuba is best remember for is a minor league game. Shuba reached out his hand as a welcoming gesture to Jackie Robinson on the day that  Robinson broke the color barrier and integrated baseball.  The moment was captured by an AP photographer in a famous photograph?

Famous photograph?  I am amazed at how many images are stored up in my brain and instantly recognized for the story that they tell.  We tend to catalogue them as well.  Black and white images, especially fuzzy grainy ones, are safely categorized as “of the distant path.”  That is until we examine them closely and recognize that while we have come so far, we still have so far to go. So many images introspectively reveal this sort of ambiguity.  Images of war, human brutality, civil rights, and women’s rights are all obvious examples.

I think a significant point.  Because such images are not merely relics.  They tell us where we’ve been, and when we are honest, they continue from there to tell us both where we are and we we need to be.  As such, they are so much more than simply history.  Such photographs are living, breathing, and organic.